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Local authorities in joint fight against HIV/AIDS
2008-05-03 09:24:22
By PETER TINDWA
Tanzania, being one among most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been at a fore front in the fight against the spread of Human Immuno Virus and Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS).
The fight against the global threatening scourge involves not only governments, but also other stakeholders such local government authorities.
In Africa, as a continent, local governments right from cities, municipalities and towns have decided to forge an alliance against the spread of the incurable disease.
A new initiative by local governments` officials to tackle the scourge may do more on the local level to address the crisis than the health ministry on the national level.
The Chairman of Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at Local Level (AMICAALL)-Tanzania Chapter, Salim Kassim Kisauji, who is also the Tanga City Mayor, says that people themselves know best their needs and they are coordinating funding to carry out the people`s projects.
Mayor Kisauji explains that AMICAAL-Tanzania Chapter is in the process of spreading the message of the new grassroots opportunity at a series of leadership development training sessions.
During a three-day Leadership Development Training course, city and town mayors together with district directors held in Morogoro Region last year, observed that awareness on the spread of the scourge should be given top priority.
``AIDS-awareness function in addition to the usual government and NGO health groups, signaled a recognition that the disease has gone beyond a medical emergency and is bringing economic and social havoc, especially to municipalities,`` Kisauji stated.
``AIDS makes all the problems in towns worse,`` according to the Deputy Minister in the President`s Office (Regional and Local Governments Administration), Cellina Kombani.
``People cannot move out of poverty in the slums, if they are sick. What good is taking pills when the water is polluted?`` What to do?`` queried An Ethiopian LD coach, Berhanu Tadesse.
Critics of the health ministries in sub-Saharan Africa have not been diplomatic, and argue that new thinking and approaches are essential, if Africa, especially Swaziland is not to overtake Botswana as the country with the highest HIV infection rate.
AMICAALL-Swaziland is an attempt by mayors and municipal authorities to do something constructive by listening to the people most affected by the crisis, their constituents, according to the chairperson of the Executive Council of the initiative, Nokuthula Mthembu, who is chairperson of the Ezulwini Town Board, where AMICAALL coincidentally is headquartered.
``The voice of the people will determine how we will combat HIV/AIDS in towns,`` she says.
And not just in towns. Rudolph Maziya, national coordinator of AMICAALL-Swaziland, says, ``About 25 percent of Swazis stand to directly benefit from AMICAALL financed projects.
But there is a spillover effect, and many more people will benefit because town and rural people intermingle in Swaziland. People work in towns, but they visit or live in rural homesteads.``
People may decide what their communities most need is an orphanage for the children who are left without caregivers when their parents are taken by AIDS.
The United Nation`s Children Education Fund (UNICEF) projects an annual 10,000 new orphans in Swaziland as AIDS-related diseases take their toll.
Tadesse, however, argues that in several occasions, government does tend to work from the top down, with experts determining the people`s needs.
Projects can be imposed, and though this may be done with the best intentions, such projects are not accepted with the same enthusiasm as self-generated projects, where people think they own them because they are the creators.
With the current rural-urban migration there are several problems facing urban areas. There is inadequate housing. Resulting in expanding ``informal settlements`` (i.e. ``slums``).
There is a lack of clean and safe drinking water in some places. Health facilities are strained.
The network of sexual abuse services to counsel and assist victims of abuse and violence needs expanding.
Economic empowerment initiatives are as necessary in towns as they are in rural lands.
``Here is where the mayors` initiative on AIDS can offer guidance. Mayors` offices can set up coordinators for specific concerns, to public, and dispense financial assistance. These coordinators can work with donor agencies to approve initiatives,`` Tadesse observed.
For AMICAALL-Tanzania Chapter to operate successfully, technical assistance and some supervision are also required.
Again, the AMICAALL model, if it proves successful, will show the way.
There is also a reluctance of donors to contribute to the general budgets of municipalities, where monies might be spent in areas other than what the donor had in mind.
AMICAAL-Tanzania Chapter, however, sees to it that its contributions are used for a specific crisis such as activities involved in the fight against the spread of the incurable scourge in the country.
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